Heat metal makes metal extremely warm. Unattended, nonmagical metal gets no saving throw. Magical metal is allowed a saving throw against the spell. An item in a creature’s possession uses the creature’s saving throw bonus unless its own is higher.

A creature takes fire damage if its equipment is heated. It takes full damage if its armor is affected or if it is holding, touching, wearing, or carrying metal weighing one-fifth of its weight. The creature takes minimum damage (1 point or 2 points; see the table) if it’s not wearing metal armor and the metal that it’s carrying weighs less than one-fifth of its weight.

On the first round of the spell, the metal becomes warm and uncomfortable to touch but deals no damage. The same effect also occurs on the last round of the spell’s duration. During the second (and also the next-to-last) round, intense heat causes pain and damage. In the third, fourth, and fifth rounds, the metal is searing hot, causing more damage, as shown on the table below.